Ground anchor



y 2, 1955 r M. L. CLEVETT, JR 2,712,864

GROUND ANCHOR Filed ow.- s, 1952 lldbrtonL.CZevet Ji'.

BY W fwh ATTORNEY GROUND ANCHOR Bret-ton L. Clevett, .112,.leifersonville, Ind.-, assignor to the United States of America asrepresented by the Secretary of the Army Application Qctober 3, 1952,Serial No. 313,690 2 Claims. (Cl. 18999) (Granted under Title 35, U. S.Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, maybe manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmentalpurposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to ground anchors or stays for guy lines and thelike.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a highly simplified,efficient and inexpensive device for anchoring the ends of guy cablesand the like to the ground, and characterized by ease of penetrationinto the ground and maximum resistance to extraction therefrom due tothe force exerted by the guy cable.

A further object is to provide a ground anchor which is substantiallyunitary in construction and adapted to be manufactured in the form of ametal casting or the like, as an expendable article, if desired.

A further object is to provide a ground anchor having novel andsimplified means for connecting the same with a guy line above theground, and affording an extremely strong connection between the anchorand guy line.

Another object is to provide a ground anchor of the above-mentionedcharacter which may be hand driven into substantially any type of soilby means of a simple pipe and hammer.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a i r 't elf groundancho for guy lmes Whlcn tends to onent 1 s r Ill) 14, near me centroidof the plate 11 and close to the within the ground to a planesubstantially at right angles to the guy line, after the guy line istightened and placed under tension, the anchor then ofiering a maximumresistance to extraction from the ground due to the tension in the guyline.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and inwhich like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout thesame,

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly diagrammatic, of supplies to belashed to the ground by a guy line and showing a pair of the groundanchors embodying the invention driven into the ground prior to havingtheir intermediate connecting wires fastened to the ends of the guyline,

Figure 2 is a similar view of the supplies lashed to the ground by theguy line with the ends of the guy line secured to the intermediateconnecting wires of the ground anchors, and the anchors disposed inplanes substantially at right angles to the guy line,

Figure 3 is a perspective View of the ground anchor and its intermediateconnecting wire,

Figure 4 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the ground anchorwith the intermediate connecting wire shown in cross section,

Figure 5 is an edge elevation of the ground anchor and intermediateconnecting wire showing typical relative positions of the same when theconnecting wire is under tension, and,

Figure 6 is a horizontal cross section on line 66 of Figure 4.

nited States Patent 6 a 2 ,712,364 Patented July 12, 1955 In thedrawings, where for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferredembodiment of the invention, the numeral 10' designates generally myground anchor which may take the form of a casting of aluminum, iron orthe like. The anchor comprises a body portion or plate 11 which is fiatand has substantially the shape of an equilateral triangle with the apex12 of the triangle adapted to be directed downwardly for penetrationinto the ground. The plate 11 may be approximately A; of an inch thick,and the altitude or height of the triangular plate as well as its widthat the base 13 may be of the order of four inches, although thesedimensions may be varied as desired, and it is not intended to restrictthe invention to any particular dimensions.

The body portion or plate 11 is provided at the center of the base 13and along the line through the apex 12 which bisects the base with anintegral enlargement or rib 14 which is preferably cone shaped andtapers substantially to a point at the apex 12, where the rib hassubstantially the same thickness as the plate 11. The end 15 of theconical rib 14 remote from the apex 12 is flat and flush with theadjacent edge or base 13 of the triangular plate 11. At this end, therib 14 is substantially wider than the thickness of the plate 11 asshown. The conical rib 14 extends continuously throughout the entirealtitude or height of the triangular plate 11.

A reduced short cylindrical extension or lug 16 is integrally formedcentrally upon the upper end 15 of the conical rib 14, and preferablyhas its upper end rounded as shown. The lug 1b is adapted to enter thebore of a driving tube or pipe which may be used to drive the anchor it?downwardly into the ground, the end of the pipe contacting the enlargedend 15 of the rib 14.

The cone-shaped rib 14 projects equidistantly laterally of the oppositefaces of the triangular plate 11, and the opposite side portions of theplate 11, Figure 4, extend equidistantly radially beyond the rib 14 fromdiametrically opposite points upon the same.

The plate 11 is provided upon opposite sides of the rib 14 with a pairof apertures 17, receiving an intermediate connecting wire 18 which islooped about one side of the conical rib 14 and bears against the sameas best shown in Figure 6. This arrangement forms a very strongconnection between the anchor 19 and connecting wire 18, and thecircular cross sectional shape of the rib 14, Figure 6, prevents theconnecting wire 18 from being bent too sharply at its loop 19, which ifallowed to happen might cause the wire to fail under tension. It is thusseen that the connecting wire 18 is connected with the anchor 11 nearthe centroid or center of the triangular plate 11, and this arrangementpermits the ground anchor to automatically orient itself atsubstantially right angles to the line of pull upon the guy line, aswill be further described hereinafter. The intermediate connecting wire18 carries a suitable guy line attaching eye 20, permanently securedthereto and the ends of the wire 18 may be coiled about the two strandsof the wire and suitably tied near the attaching eye 20, as shown at 21.The intermediate connecting wire 18 may be of any preferred lengthbetween the anchor 10 and eye Zti, such as two or three feet.

In the use of my ground anchor for lashing down a stack of supplies 22,for example, a pair of the anchors 10 may be driven into the ground nearopposite sides of the stack 22, as shown in Figure l. A suitable sectionof pipe is engaged over the upstanding lug 16 of each anchor, and theanchor is driven downwardly into the 7 ground in a generally verticalfashion as shown in Figure 1 or at any chosen angle to the ground. Theanchor may be driven to any desired depth below the surface of theground, depending upon the relative hardness of the soil, and the lengthof pipe employed as the driving tool. in any event, it is intended thatthe anchor 10 be entirely embedded beneath the surface of the ground andpreferably a considerable distance below the ground surface. Due to thethickness of the triangular plate I0, and the taper of the conical rib14, the anchor. will penetrate even very hard soil with ease, and itshould always be possible to drive the anchors into the, ground by handwith a hammer or the like.

When the anchors 10, Figure 1, have been driven to 1 l the desireddepth, the upper end of the connecting wire 18. and the eye 29 willextend above the surface of the ground as, shown for connection with theends of a lashing cable or guy line 23. The ends of the line 23 areconnected with the eye 20 and tightened in any preferred 'manner untilthe line or cable 23 has the desired degree of tension. When the cable23 and connecting wires 13 are thus placed under tension as illustratedin Figure 2, the anchors 19. will automatically change their positionsin the ground and orient themselves in planes substantially at rightangles to the lines of pull of the cable 23. This will occur becausethe. intermediate connecting wire 18 is fastened to each anchor iii atsubstantially the centroid. or center of the triangular plate 11. As thetension in the. cable 23 and wires 18 gradually increases, theanchors 10will shift from the nearly vertical positions shown in Figure 1, to theinclined positions of Figure 2, wherein the anchors are shown at rightangles to the ends of the cable 23. In these positions, the anchors 10offer maximum holding power or resistance to extraction from the ground,since the entire triangular areas of the flat plates 11 are nowresisting extraction from the ground due to the pull on the cable 23. Ithas been determined by experimentation that one of the triangular groundanchors having a height and width of approximately four inches willsuccessfully resist an extracting force in excess of 1500 pounds. V

I, wish to emphasize as a particularly important point contributing agreat deal to the holding ability of the anchor, the fact that thethinnessof the anchor prevents herewith shown and described is to betaken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes inthe shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoinedclaims.

Hav ng thus described my invention I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a :1 relatively thinand generally flat triangular plate, a relatively thick conicallytapered rib formed integral with it from displacing and. disturbing anygreat amount of soil as the anchor penetrates the soil. This results inthe soil around the anchor remaining firmly packed and undisturbed sothat the embedded anchor will be firmly held in the embedded positionand capable of oflering maximum resistance to extraction.

Although only one use of my anchor has been shown on the drawingfor thepurpose of illustration, I wish to mention that. the anchor is adaptableto a wide variety of uses such as the anchoring of guy lines and cablesconnected with structural towers, poles and walls. In fact, the anchoris well suited for substantially any application wherein it is desiredto firmly secure an object to the ground.

I While I have shown and described the body portion 7 11, .of the anchoras triangular, I wish to point out that the same may have other shapes,such as semicircular, trapezoidal and the like. a V a It should beunderstood that the form of the invention the triangular plate andextending from one corner of the same to the longitudinal center of theopposite edge of the plate, the rib tapering toward said corner andhaving its larger end arranged adjacent to said opposite edge of theplate, the rib projecting beyond the opposite sides of the triangularplate near the center of its area for substantial distances and beingrounded outwardly of said opposite sides of the plate, the plate beingprovided centrally with a pair of transversely arranged openingsextending therethrough normal to the plate on opposite sides of said riband substantially tangent to the rib, and a flexible connecting elementengaging through said openings and looped about a curved side of saidrib transversely of the rib and held thereby against abrupt bending,said flexible element extending beyond the opv posite side of the platefor attachment to a member to ively wide flat shoulder, a reducedextension formed centrally upon said larger end of the rib andextending;

axially thereof to serve as a guide for a pipe or the like used to drivethe device into the ground, said plate being provided centrally with apair of transversely arranged openings extending therethrough normal tothe plate and substantially tangent to diametrically opposite sides ofthe rib, and a wire looped about one side of the rib transversely of therib and extending through said open' ings and prevented by the rib frombending sharply, the Wire extending beyond the opposite side of thedevice for a substantial distance and adapted to be attached to a memberwhich it is desired to anchor.

References Cited in the the of this patent UNITED STATES lATENTS 928,469Miles July 20, 1909 1,047,097 MacNab Dec. 10, 1912 FOREIGN PATENTS309,872 Great Britain of 1930

